Progressive proofing and proofing technology

(Changing Contracts) How does the digital proofing system keep improving technically? Can they provide sample samples that satisfy customers? Prepress manufacturers have been pioneering new ways to make revolutionary changes in the prepress area. At the 1993 Ipex exhibition, about 200 plate-making companies exhibited a computer-to-plate (CTP) system, but now only a few such as Misomex, Creo, Linotype-Hell, and Scitex survived. For manufacturers using CTP technology, high costs and other temporary obstacles are not the only other headaches. In addition, because the film is completely detached from the CTP system without film, there is no tradition. In the same sense. Therefore, unless you are willing to produce a set of film for each set of digital plates, you can only use digital methods for proofing. Fortunately, the digital proofing market is perfect in terms of quality, precision, and equipment, but due to a variety of brands to choose from and the price factor involved, there are still difficulties in finding the ideal equipment to meet the needs. One of the most difficult issues for digital proofing equipment manufacturers is to provide similar outlets for traditional Cromalin and Matchprint proofing. 3M's Digital Matchprint and Kodak's Approval system are two of the earliest products that provide halftone dot digital proofs. However, due to the high cost and some continuous problems, neither device has had a huge impact. Almost all manufacturers use the "dithering" or "random continuous screen" method to simulate halftone dots, but since the actual printing process does not use this method, the proofing by this method is not much practical. The significance of this, therefore, hinders people's recognition of digital proofing as a whole. IMATION RAINBOW To discuss digital proofing, you must mention Imation Rainbow because it is the first accurate color desktop proofing device. Although the equipment has not improved much since its introduction six years ago, it is still an excellent product in the large family of today's proofers. The 2730 model in the Rainbow series has been updated with the original model, but the price is almost the same. The newly-printed Rainbow 2740 has a maximum printing area of ​​460 x 310mm, including bleeding lines, which is twice as much as the A4 page. The Rainbow 2740 can also print proofs with a metallic effect and a white ink effect, which is very useful for packaging printing proofing and providing high-quality fine prints. The proofer has an excellent color correction software system, and Imation recently released a 4.0 version of the corresponding RIP. It requires a professional Mac with at least 64MB of memory, eight color separations, and eight-color printing through the ink roller contact during the printing process. Like most dye sublimation proofers, the Rainbow series can only simulate one type of printer, but color lookup tables and dot gain can be used to better simulate print images. Imation equipment offers a very good price/performance ratio. Although Gretag color scales have recently been added, the color accuracy obtained is not necessarily the most accurate. IRIS REALIST Another mature device is Scitex's Iris Realist series, which dominates the proofing market. The SmartJet series uses high-quality inkjet technology to obtain 300dpi proofs. The low-end equipment can be printed on an area of ​​269 x 467 mm, including various calibrations and options for cooperating with the press. Many customers who need to replicate now use the term "Iris" to describe high-end digital proofs, just as Cromalin has become a contract proof of terminology. Scitex first introduced Hexachrome or high-fidelity color digital proofers. Hexachrome technology is gradually improved from the Panton color system, and can be used to mix four kinds of printing primary color inks and other two spot color inks to obtain a much larger printing color range than the conventional CMYK color gamut. Hexachrome also offers amazing color accuracy and vividness that ordinary CMYK inks cannot achieve. The new printer is based on Iris Realist, but uses a special professional software called GMG Colorproof to get extra color information. The Realist 5013's output size is 533 x 355mm, while the Realist 5030 can reach 533 x 762mm. Both machines can use Adobe CPSI Rips or Scitex's own Ripro server based on PC or Mac. Inkjet printing technology is slower in speed than dye sublimation printers, but the quality and color accuracy obtained is better than dye sublimation printing. The Realist 5030 also has the advantage of being able to achieve a B2 open size. FUJI FIRSTPROOF Fujifilm is constantly striving for perfect digital proofing by virtue of its unquestionable experience in color images. The Fuji FirstProof, introduced in 1996, has a unique ability to simulate outlets. However, it does not use the commonly used rose-spotted dot structure but a hexagonal structure. Fujifilm thinks this is slightly more advantageous than Rainbow's. Fuji's equipment is different from other equipment using traditional inkjet and dye sublimation technologies, but the pigmented laminated metal film used in Fuji FirstProof is identical to the ColorArt system and is identical to the principle of traditional laminated proofs. In this way, proofs that are very close to the print are obtained, just as the device was calibrated according to the European standard ColorArt, and the colors can also be adjusted according to the customer's color look-up table. The device, which runs on a Mac and runs on a Harlequin Rip, can double-face warp on coated paper (including metal) weighing 500 grams per square meter. FirstProof uses analog continuous screen dots with a minimum of 2%. If you are purchasing a Rainbow or Iris device, consider carefully considering this device. DUPONT DIGITAL CROMALIN The most important proofing machine on the market today may be DuPont's digital Cromalin. This device has the potential to monopolize the market similar to DuPont's analog Cromalin. The initial problems and costly expenses caused the company to lose many early users. However, prices have recently fallen, and DuPont has also announced the availability of spot colors and Hexachrome support, making digital Cromalin an ideal choice. Similar to the Iris device, the DuPont proofer is an inkjet printer driven by a Postscript Level 2 Rip with a four-color print head. The high price of this kind of machine has been demonstrated by DuPont's technical support. It is installed, commissioned and maintained by the company's engineers, and DuPont is responsible for providing paper, ink and color management. The digital Cromalin also uses the System Brunner control bar to help calibrate and manage the system. The device also has new features such as automatic paper feeding and print size of 520 x 690mm. The DuPont device's output system is very similar to the Iris device. The digital Cromalin has the ability to produce true spot colors instead of simulating spot colors. DuPont devices may have the best color calibration and dot gain control capabilities. With the recent price cuts, the digital Cromalin is more likely to be a standard than the analog Cromalin built in the past. AGFA DUOPROOF Agfa's similar product is Duoproof, a hybrid printer that combines thermal printing and dye printing methods using the Seiko engine. The device has a 300 dpi resolution and printable area of ​​A3 images (including bleeding) is a very important tool. On the basis of printing, Risc was established with 28 MB of memory and Postseript Level 2 as the standard. Agfa Fototune color software is provided with the device and can be trained at Agfa for two days. The combination of sublimation and dye sublimation is very helpful for design agents, but it is a novel material for photocopyers who are only interested in printing high quality copies. Duoproof's quality in dye sublimation mode is similar to Rainbow's, and the equipment calibration software is better, although its operation is somewhat complicated and not very advanced. POLAROID DRYJET Polaroid has launched Dryjet digital dye proofing products on the market, and is one of the few printers that use solid ink jet technology to melt and squeeze solids onto a page. Tektroniks is also interested in this solid inkjet technology and expects it to dominate the dye sublimation technology. Dryjet is powered by Adobe CPSI Rip and uses a 600 dpi FM screen to obtain an apparent resolution of 1,200 dpi. With an image size of 345 x 490mm, proofs of 6 different substrates can be produced in one hour. Its main feature is solid inkjet technology, which makes it possible to use most of the substrates, but it has not been proven that this technology has higher color accuracy than other technologies. Since none of the above-mentioned printers use conventional dots, they do not suffer from problems such as moiré patterns or wavebands, and some proofers cannot simulate overprinting or trapping. However, these are not a problem for designers or advertisers, and are only a limiting factor when selecting a copying machine or printer. These are questions that should be seriously considered. All digital proofing devices will encounter the same common problems. Obviously, the color accuracy of digital proofing does not match well with the final printed sheet, but it is more important to match the content. All copy makers who produce films and plates through Postscript will often see various defects such as dot matrix fonts, Courier's default fonts, mystery removals, and even instantly disappearing images. These are common problems that can be seen on invisible but final proofs on film. However, the same problem may occur on digital proofs, which can be corrected before printing, but there is no guarantee that digital proofs must match the printing plate. This is of course a worrying issue for CTP users: errors in platemaking and printing, but they are not visible on digital proofs for color matching. Usually, as long as you use different Rips to produce proofs and plates, there will always be white border errors. So far, only Scitex has found a solution to this problem. Iris Realist Proofer and Dolev Imagesetter both use the Scitex Ripro Rip, and as long as the same RIP file is used, matching is guaranteed. Other small businesses are struggling to find better ways to combine digital proofing with a computer-to-plate system. Now that the prepress part does not need to be changed for printing, it can adopt innovative methods such as digital proofing... but it can only be truly successful.